England stumbled away from the third Ashes Test in Perth, stunned at the viciousness of the Australian fightback. After the hosts were outclassed in Brisbane and overwhelmed in Adelaide, a Mitchell Johnson-inspired counterattack saw them square the series by a huge 267-run margin. With England's seemingly unshakeable defense of the Ashes cracking, the pressure was now on both teams - and slightly more on Australia - to stamp their authority on the fourth Test in Melbourne.

With the eyes of the cricket world glued to the Boxing Day Test, Shane Watson survived being dropped twice, before Chris Tremlett finally prized out his wicket. Just as Phil Hughes and Ricky Ponting (playing with a broken finger) began to repair the damage, they both fell, Hughes to Tim Bresnan and Ponting to Tremlett for just 10 (37/3). Australia crawled to the lunch break, but lost Michael Hussey in the last over of the first session, James Anderson making the critical breakthrough. Hussey departed for just 8, having made at least 50 in every innings of the series. Anderson accounted for Steven Smith, the struggling Michael Clarke  and the Perth hero Mitchell Johnson for a duck to split Australia wide open at 77/8. Brad Haddin fell to Bresnan and Chris Tremlett wrapped up the tail to bowl Australia out for an unbelievable 98.

Andrew Strauss and Alistair Cook easily took the lead, racing to 157/0, and by the end of the first day, Australia were already trailing by 59. Peter Siddle made the first two breakthroughs: Cook for 82 and Strauss for 69. England were effectively 72/2, but Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott stemmed the damage. KP got to 49 before the Australians appealed for a caught behind decision off Ryan Harris. Umpire Aleem Dar ruled in favor of Pietersen, and perhaps desperate for a wicket, Ricky Ponting asked for a review. Replays cleared Piertersen, but Ponting continued to argue with Dar - the stress of his poor series and batting catching up with him? Pietersen eventually made 50, but got out shortly afterwards with the score on 262. Mitchell Johnson made up for his first innings duck by combining with Peter Siddle to take the wickets of a struggling Paul Collingwood and Ian Bell to knock England back at 285/6, leading by 187. Matt Prior was initially given out caught behind for just 6, but Aleem Dar confirmed that Mitchell Johnson had delivered a no-ball. Prior survived and went on to make 85, putting on 173 with Jonathan Trott, who eventually made his fifth Test century. Prior made 85 and Peter Siddle took 6 wickets, but the story was Trott's unbeaten 168 and England's total of 513, giving them a lead of 415.

As though being 415 in the red wasn't bad enough, Australia started the innings a man down, Ryan Harris' ankle injury ruling him out of the batting lineup. Shane Watson ran out Phil Hughes at 53/1, making a 50 for himself before being LBW to Tim Bresnan. Bresnan also accounted for Ricky Ponting (a painfully slow 20) and Michael Hussey for a duck to leave Australia reeling at 104/4. Michael Clarke fell to Graeme Swann for 13 off 61, and Australia had lost half their side for 134, still 281 away from making England bat again. Steven Smith (38), Brad Haddin (55) and Peter Siddle (40) resisted as best as they could, but you can't win Test matches with a first innings score of 98. Ben Hilfenhaus became Matt Prior's 7th catch of the match as Australia were all out for 258. England triumphed by a remarkable margin of an innings and 157 runs, and with only one Test left, ensured that they couldn't lose the Ashes.

The numbers tell the story - Australia's 98 was their lowest score against England since 1877. Matt Prior took six catches in that disastrous first innings. This was the first time in history Australia lost two home Tests by an innings. It was also their 8th worst Test defeat of all time. Ricky Ponting, already under fire for Australia's poor showing and his own bad form, brought even more criticism upon himself for his argument with Aleem Dar. Michael Clarke failed and Mitchell Johnson's Perth form deserted him, but it was Michael Hussey's match total of 8 which spoke the loudest. England passed 500 for the third time, with Australia's highest score this series being only 481. Paul Collingwood's bad form remained the only blemish on England's game, but such a dominating, crushing victory - and the result that the Ashes were well and truly out of Australia's reach - made this England's game through and through. With the Sydney Test left, all that remained was for them to take the series.